Our TK Open Minds Coordinator, Christa Craats, is ready to take art appreciation to a new level at heartland schools across Singapore. How? By mentoring representatives of Art Outreach, a not-for-profit organisation funded by Ministry of Education on how to effectively design art programmes inspired by our very own Open Minds programme.

Ms. Craats’ partnership with Art Outreach started 6 years ago, as she took CIS students on art in transit tours, run by Art Outreach volunteers. Originally designed to raise awareness around the neighbourhoods along the MRT North-East line and later the Circle Line, these tours helped students appreciate art outside museums and galleries, and encouraged them to learn more about local communities, not far from their own neighbourhoods. Ms. Craats carried her own Open Minds sessions in the MRT space, where she asked questions about the artwork, prompting students to think, inquire and find answers for themselves. Her use of visible thinking routines during the Open Minds tours did not only engage CIS students, but they inspired Art Outreach officials to implement some of the key features of the programme into their local school’s Arts classes.

Ms. Craats is currently working with instructors and facilitators from the Art Outreach Programme as a mentor and is teaching visible thinking routines to fine arts majors (future art teachers), who will then start to change the mindset and ways in which art is taught in the local system. Ms. Craats’ training examines topics that include how to set up ideal classroom spaces and how to prompt questions and generate new ideas. She will also be showcasing how to stimulate inquiry through object based learning. As Ms. Craats puts it, “visible thinking practices teach individuals how to solve problems”. This will be a revolutionary shift in a local setting, as the local curriculum tends to cover a lot of content, with little room or time for inquiry.

Ms. Craats’ collaboration with Art Outreach has been instrumental in building new partnerships within the community. CIS TK is going to buddy up with students from Tanjong Katong Primary School in art inquiry sessions. It will be a very different learning experience (especially if students are not used to seeing artwork in their everyday life) and will involve some open discussions about various components of artwork, to facilitate a better understanding and appreciation of art. CIS students will in return benefit from learning about different ways of thinking, as they make new friends from the local community.